http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Federal+government+gave+energy+firms+400M+green/9316877/story.html
Federal government gave energy firms $400M to go green
By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News December 23, 2013
Canadian taxpayers have given more than $400 million to some large oil,
gas and pipeline companies in recent years to support green projects
that are also boosting the industry's environmental credentials.
An analysis of federal accounting records by Postmedia News shows that
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has offered these subsidies
to moneymaking companies such as Shell Canada, Suncor, Husky Energy and
Enbridge to pursue projects in biofuels production and wind energy as
well as new technology to capture carbon pollution and bury it underground.
About $1.4 million in federal government climatechange spending has also
benefited state-owned oil companies in Mexico (PEMEX) and China (the
China National Petroleum Corporation) for projects to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions.
Environment Canada said the international funding, part of the
government's global climate-change commitment, didn't directly fund
companies, but went through "industry partners with technical expertise"
to help Mexico, Colombia and China reduce heat-trapping gases released
into the atmosphere.
Suncor was one of the top recipients of federal funding from Natural
Resources Canada with nearly $134 million in subsidies since 2007 for
biofuels production ($117 million) and wind energy ($16.6 million)
projects. "The subsidies made these projects more attractive for all
developers of new, emerging technology, including Suncor," Suncor
spokeswoman Sneh Seetal wrote in an email to Postmedia
News. In some of its recent marketing campaigns, Suncor has featured
images of its wind energy projects, promoting its environmental
credentials, without making reference to the subsidies it receives from
taxpayers.
Natural Resources Canada's biofuels and renewable power programs, which
are being wound down by the Harper government, were meant to offer
billions of dollars in incentives to producers starting in 2007. They
have generated a popular response from a variety of energy companies of
different sizes and stimulated industrial growth. For example, Natural
Resources Canada estimates that local biofuels production grew to over
1.88 billion litres of ethanol and 575 million litres of biodiesel in
2012, up from about 200 million litres of ethanol and no commercial
biodiesel plants in 2005.
But department spokeswoman Jacinthe Perras said the biofuels program has
been redesigned and will only spend $1 billion out of an original budget
of $1.5 billion. While it continues to provide subsidies until 2017, she
said the government announced in February that it would no longer accept
new applicants.
The Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based think-tank that researches
sustainable development issues, said the biofuels subsidies might have
helped encourage local production, but that they weren't as effective at
reducing pollution as other programs such as incentives for renovations
to lower energy consumption in homes and office buildings.
"Strictly from a greenhouse gas reduction perspective, there are better
uses for this money," Pembina renewable energy policy analyst Ben
Thibault said.
Subsidies by the numbers
Suncor: $134 million in support of biofuels production and wind energy
projects.
Shell Canada: $120 million in support of Quest project to capture carbon
pollution and bury it underground.
Husky Energy: $124 million in support of biofuels production and ethanol
plant.
Enbridge: $23 million in support of wind energy projects.
International: $1.4 million in funding from Environment Canada to reduce
pollution from oil and gas companies, including operations by
state-owned oil companies in China and Mexico, as part of international
climate-change commitments.
--
Darryl McMahon
Failure is not an option;
it comes standard.
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